A small creek (no name) at Venice passes through the entire length of the village and the F- —O— Company have their pipes, pos sibly twelve or fifteen in number, crossing and recrossing the stream. These pipes not being buried, causes a very serious obstruction to the water in the stream, the consequence being that a great deal of rubbish and filth of all descriptions fills the bed of the stream, causing a very offensive odor. The drainage from a large number of cess-pools finds its way into the stream at the time of heavy rains.

The F O - Company at one time had a dam constructed across this stream, at the lower end of the village, which caused the collection of a great deal of rubbish, but that has since been torn away by the citizens of Venice. The said oil company express their willingness to do anything to better the conditions that could be done, and had intended to take the dam away, but the people got in ahead of them.

There are two sources of water supply, one from a spring on a hill, near the borough, and one from a well at the foot of the hill, the spring water being conveyed through pipes to a hydrant. The cases of fever appear to be equally distributed between the users of the different sources. There have been in a population of 200 people about nine cases of true typhoid fever, with four deaths.

I declare the conditions as found by me to be a nuisance, prejudicial to the public health, and suggest the following:

That the company be required to bury their pipes below the level of the bed of the stream; the well should be cleansed, and the wall of the same to be made water tight, and brought above the surface, and thus empty the surface water out of the well, as I believe that surface water finds its way to the well.

The people are continually changing about, and are liable to drink both kinds of water, and the well, therefore, cannot be excluded, The office of the Forest Oil Company is located at McDonald, Washington county, Pa.

46-INSPECTION AT SHARPSBURG, ALLEGHENY COUNTY.

By S. M. RINEHART, Medical Inspector, on account of an epidemic of Diphtheria.

To the Secretary of the State Board of Health:

September 3, 1895.

Sir: I have the honor to report that in compliance with instructions received from you I visited Sharpsburg and found the following conditions to exist:

The borough of Sharpsburg is situated on the Allegheny river, just above the city limits of Pittsburgh and Allegheny; it has 4,000 to 5.000 inhabitants, and is an incorporated borough, its burgess at present being Martin Dethlefs. The drainage consists of one sewer, through the main street, the other street having no drainage. While there has been a board of health recently organized, there has been no health officer until the second day of this month. The prevalent disease at this time is diphtheria, and while there is no means of determining accurately, it is supposed there are about thirty-six cases now existing. There have been five deaths as far as can be determined. No means hitherto have been taken to prevent the spread of the disease. Funerals of those having died were conducted publicly, one being held from the Catholic church. Notices of the disease are not posted on the houses. Friends of the family are allowed to come and go at will. At the upper end of Main street is a pool of stagnant water twenty-five feet long, six to ten feet broad, and about two feet deep that is never drained. In the houses nearby there are two or three cases of diphtheria and three or four of scarlet fever. One death from scarlet fever occurred last Sunday. The most of the cases have been of a mild type. In the interests of sanitation I would sug gest better sewerage and a thorough isolation of all cases. board of health of the borough have closed the public schools, and on Monday evening elected Andrew Green health officer. The town seems to have awakened to the fact that precautionary measures should be taken to prevent the spread of the disease. The intake pipes for the water supply of the city of Allegheny are below the borough of Sharpsburg.

47-INSPECTION AT WALLINGFORD, DELAWARE COUNTY.

By ROBERT S. MAISON, Medical Inspector, on account of nuisance caused by pig pens.

To the Secretary of the State Board of Health:

September 2, 1895.

Sir: I have the honor to report that in compliance with instructions received from you August 31, 1895, I visited Wallingford on September 2, and found the following conditions to exist:

Full notice of my coming had been given, it being known that Mrs. H— had asked a number of people to enter complaint with her.

Mrs. A

showed me two pens-one pig in each-nicely littered

with rye straw. Noticing that her answers were evasive, I questioned her until she admitted that there was another pen behind a barn. This pen had five pigs in it-no floor-manure and swill one foot deep. I am inclined to think that the two first pens mentioned were cleaned up for my especial benefit. I recommend that T- A Briggsville, care of Wallingford P. O., be notified to abate nuisance by building floors to his pens, raised two feet above the ground, and that pens be cleaned every day until frost. Within two squares of this piggery are five piggeries owned by B——, P————, M, N and E- H- (son of complainant), so that Mrs. Abe held responsible for all the odor noticed.

B

can hardly

48-INSPECTION AT AVONDALE, DELAWARE COUNTY.

By ROBERT S. MAISON, Medical Inspector, on account of Scarlet Fever.

To the Secretary of the State Board of Health:

September 7, 1895.

Sir: I have the honor to report that in compliance with instructions received from you on September 7, 1895, I visited Avondale on September 7, 1895, and found the following conditions to exist:

Scarlet fever attacked child of M- D- last week. Case is of a severe type, and is now in the stage of desquemation. There are three other small children in the house who have not yet been attacked, although it would seem improbable that all can escape, owing to the fact that, although they are not allowed in the sick room, yet the mother, who nurses the sick child, comes down stairs to prepare meals and attend to the other children. They claim that their attending physician gave no quarantine orders, except that children must not enter sick room. I ordered quarantine, posted notice, left circular and told them that they must not allow childrea to leave the premises. I have asked neighbors to watch the house, and will visit place again in a few days. Avondale is situated along the banks of Ridley creek, below Wallingford, Delaware county, and consists of about twenty houses, owned by Leipert Lewis. There was a bad epidemic of diphtheria here about a year ago which spread over the entire township because of carelessness of the people.

49-INSPECTION AT NARBERTH, MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

By H. H. WHITCOMB, Medical Inspector, on account of defective drainage.

Norristown, Pa., September 13, 1895.

To the Secretary of the State Board of Health:

Sir: I have the honor to report that in compliance with instructions received from you September 12, 1895, I visited Narberth on September 12, 1895, and found the following conditions to exist:

A small stream one-fourth mile above Narberth station, arising in springs in the meadows above the borough, a number of small streams or spring gutters forming the main stream, at its widest point not over six feet wide. North of the road I found nothing but abundance of weeds and very little water. A sewage plant is being erected at this point, it not being completed, will say nothing about it, except that I should object to what they term an overflow pipe entering this stream at any point. It is intended to relieve the subsiding basin in times of storms, etc., and must, of necessity, carry filth into the stream to become a nuisance. At the road and railroad, and thence south I find the stream largest, about three to six feet wide, with some little water, but very sluggish and a slight odor being given off resembling cess-pool or sewer contamination. About onesixth mile below the railroad I found a terra cotta drain emptying into the creek, but nothing objectionable passing at this time. Adjoining the railroad, on the south and bordering this creek is a sewage plant in operation (Waring's system I believe). Skirting the field or plant is a ditch with some water that has the same odor found in the creek, and I judge comes from the same source. I am inclined to believe the purification by percolation is not complete, and the low state of the creek allows stagnation and decomposition to take place, and the hot sun causes it to be offensive to a greater degree than usual, the very dry season being a cause of much complaint from these causes. This, however, only shows that the system is not doing its work properly, and should be remedied, as the water coming from such a source is not fit for dairy use.

This is the condition in which I found the stream. Not knowing the nature of the complaint or its definite location, I sought everything, and trust my report will be satisfactory. It was one of the most trying jobs I have had to do for some time, considering the heat. I saw a man who said he was superintendent of the sewage plant being erected, who forbid me going upon their property, which I dis regarded of course.

50-INSPECTION AT NARBETH, MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

By Wм. B. ATKINSON, Medical Inspector, on account of odors from drain, etc.

1400 Pine St., Philadelphia, Sept. 25, 1895.

To the Secretary of the State Board of Health:

Sir: I have the honor to report that in compliance with instructions received from you, I visited this day, and found the following conditions to exist:

I made a careful examination of the locality north of the railroad, at the first avenue west of Forrest avenue, and found a large drain pipe, say one foot in diameter which empties into the small gutter passing across the road and through a tunnel of the railroad where the foul matter spreads over the floor of the tunnel. Undoubtedly this pipe drains the cess-pools of several houses on the north side of the road. The odor emanating from the tunnel is wafted to the rear of a house marked 15 on the plan given me by Mr. McClellan. This odor is very positive, and I am satisfied that it is liable to give rise to disease. Were diphtheria or scarlet fever of a malignant form to occur in this house, it would cause me no surprise. The free circulation of air at present perhaps aids to dilute the poison for the time, but when cold or stormy weather necessitates the closing of the windows and doors, the danger will be much greater. I would urge immediate attention to this matter and the thorough disinfec tion of the floor and contents of the tunnel.

51-INSPECTION AT MANN'S CHOICE, BEDFORD COUNTY.

By A ENFIELD, Medical Inspector, on account of pollution of water.

Bedford, Pa., October 19, 1895.

To the Secretary of the State Board of Health:

Sir: I have the honor to report that in compliance with instructions received from you October 12, 1895, I visted Mann's Choice on October 18, 1895, and found the following conditions to exist:

The Mann's Choice tannery, located at Mann's Choice, and operated by the Elk Tanning Company, have made no effort to abate the nuisance worth mentioning. They dug a small pit not more than ten